How Mikel Arteta Transformed Arsenal into Champions — and Why His New Contract Changes Everything

It is 29 November 2019. The day is still young, but there are already echoes and rumours across north London of a possible managerial sacking — something that rarely happens at Arsenal, a club well known for sticking with managers through thick and thin.

Within a few hours, breaking news appears on Arsenal’s website: Unai Emery has been sacked.

It simply had to happen after we had gone seven consecutive matches without a win in all competitions — five draws and two defeats, our worst winless run since 1992.

The next question on people’s minds: Who will replace Unai Emery?

The Arsenal board took stock and, instead of making a hasty appointment, club legend Freddie Ljungberg, who had been part of Emery’s coaching setup, was brought to the fore to take charge of the first team as interim head coach.

A draw at Norwich City. A defeat at the Emirates to Brighton. A win at West Ham. A draw at Standard Liege. A 3-0 loss at home to Man City. A draw at Everton.

One win, three draws and two defeats with Freddie Ljungberg at the wheel. Just one win in 13 matches under two coaches.

With no new-manager bounce and form still wobbling, the board met again. After weeks of searching for Emery’s replacement, a decision was made.

Mikel Arteta joined Manchester City’s coaching staff in July 2016 after retiring as a player.

After three and a half years as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, with no previous first-team managerial experience and still under contract at Man City, Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta as head coach on a three-and-a-half-year contract running until June 2023.

The appointment was heavily criticised by some supporters and labelled an experiment.

With £1m paid in compensation, the Mikel Arteta era began.

Mikel Arteta’s era began on Boxing Day, just six days after his appointment, with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.

Even worse, he lost his first match at the Emirates 2-1 to London rivals Chelsea.

A glimpse of hope arrived three days later at the Emirates as Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 to record Arteta’s first win.

Two draws, away at Crystal Palace and at home to Sheffield United, followed.

Arsenal’s poor form continued: just two wins in 18 games.

With no real manager bounce and pressure beginning to build, perhaps some big decisions were needed.

With just two wins from the previous 18 matches under three different managers, perhaps this was about more than simply coaching.

The Emirates Stadium carried a heavy, lingering cloud of frustration.

A damaging cycle of cultural decay, tactical naivety and institutional drift had taken hold.

Even worse, we were soft in duels, structurally wide open in transition and our recruitment had lost its previously high standards. There was also a psychological problem: Arsenal frequently collapsed under the slightest pressure away from home.

He introduced new training and dinner rules, made training more physically and technically demanding and the effects began to show in the weeks ahead.

Our form gradually improved, largely thanks to the influence of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, particularly in the FA Cup.

He scored twice in the semi-final as we beat Man City 2-0 despite entering as underdogs.

Even better was to come in the final against Chelsea.

The Aubameyang miracle happened again as he scored twice to seal a 2-1 victory over the Blues and give Arteta a magical trophy win against the odds.

16 wins, six draws and six defeats.

The big decisions then took centre stage ahead of the 2020/21 season.

In August 2020, Carlos Cuesta joined from Juventus and Miguel Molina arrived from Atlético Madrid. Andreas Georgson, a set-piece specialist, joined from Brentford with a focus on dead-ball situations.

Freddie Ljungberg and goalkeeper coach Sal Bibbo left the club, while new psychologists were brought in.

Arteta also expanded the club’s sports-science and psychological support in an attempt to restructure Arsenal’s performance operation across every department.

The progress was not overnight.

Arsenal finished eighth and won the FA Cup. In Arteta’s first full season, we finished eighth yet again while also winning the Community Shield.

As the 2021/22 season began, signs of progress became increasingly clear.

Then, in December, the biggest player-manager controversy of Arteta’s career took centre stage.

His decision to leave Mesut Özil out of Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads during his first full season, until the midfielder eventually left for Fenerbahçe in January, was highly controversial.

But stripping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the club captaincy following a disciplinary breach was perhaps even more significant.

Aubameyang was not just Arsenal’s captain, but also one of the team’s best and most decisive players.

He never played for us again after losing the captaincy, eventually departing the club having scored 92 goals in 163 appearances.

Arteta led Arsenal to a fifth-place finish and a return to European competition in 2021/22.

With more new faces arriving following a massive squad overhaul, another era under Arteta began.

By the 2022/23 season, Arteta’s identity was finally stamped all over the team as Arsenal competed for the Premier League title.

We eventually finished second on 84 points, five behind eventual champions Manchester City.

Everything Arteta had been building over the previous three years was beginning to come together: the signings of Gabriel Magalhães in 2020, William Saliba in 2020, set-piece coach Nicolas Jover in 2021 and club captain Martin Ødegaard in 2021.

Ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, Arsenal made the statement signing of Declan Rice from West Ham for £100m plus £5m in add-ons.

David Raya arrived on loan, alongside Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.

Those signings proved instrumental as Arsenal once again competed for the league title, only to finish second yet again with 89 points as Manchester City won the league with 91.

A run to the Champions League quarter-finals before elimination by Bayern Munich offered another glimpse of the progress being made.

In 2024/25, Arteta led Arsenal to a second-place finish for the third consecutive season, ending on 74 points, 10 behind champions Liverpool.

Frustration grew among supporters following two trophyless seasons in three years and, even worse, three consecutive second-place finishes.

Yet progress was visible in Europe, where Arsenal reached the Champions League semi-finals before being eliminated by PSG.

That is the label rival supporters had repeatedly mocked us with, particularly in the Premier League.

After three consecutive second-place finishes, Arteta was desperate to finally break through, and that intent was clear in the statement signing of one of the most in-form strikers in world football: Viktor Gyökeres.

Other signings included Eberechi Eze, Martin Zubimendi, Noni Madueke, Piero Hincapié on loan, Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Nørgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The decision to build greater squad depth proved a masterstroke.

Injuries to key players such as Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard had derailed our title challenges in previous seasons.

Perhaps that had been Manchester City’s greatest weapon during their run of league titles: squad depth.

So perhaps it was no surprise that last season unfolded the way it did.

From set-piece excellence to eight consecutive clean sheets and 10 straight victories in all competitions, Arsenal became a machine.

With 19 clean sheets in the Premier League, just 27 goals conceded and 19 goals scored from corners, Gabriel Magalhães, David Raya, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyökeres, Martin Ødegaard and others all shone as Mikel Arteta led Arsenal to the summit of English football.

Arteta led Arsenal to the league title with 85 points, seven ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, finally ending 22 years of Premier League title hurt for Arsenal supporters.

Furthermore, Arteta took us even further in Europe.

We finished unbeaten throughout last season’s Champions League campaign and were a penalty shootout away from becoming champions of Europe.

It was heartbreaking not to win it.

But with Arteta in charge, it now feels like a question of when, rather than if, Arsenal will conquer Europe.

Wednesday, 7 October 2026.

The news arrives: Mikel Arteta has signed a new contract extension with Arsenal.

The new deal runs until June 2030 and comes with enormous promise.

We are not simply the current champions of England. Arsenal have once again become a formidable force in Europe.

A team of mentality giants.

A team capable of breaking down stubborn low-block opponents.

A team beaming with ruthless set-piece excellence.

A team with elite defensive metrics.

A team with leaders in every position.

And, most importantly, a team that fights for the badge every second it spends on the pitch.

With Mikel Arteta in charge of the team he has forged through tenacity, excellence, work ethic, perseverance, willpower and unity, Arsenal’s golden era may only just be getting started.

The contract extension represents complete trust in the Spaniard to continue fine-tuning the Arsenal machine he has built.

And in football, trust is everything.

Arteta is aiming to retain the Premier League title and advance to at least the Champions League semi-finals this season.

It might not be a smooth journey, but with him at the wheel, we can rest assured that Arsenal will continue competing on all fronts and challenging for more trophies in the years ahead.

Arsenal may just have made the biggest signing of the year: Mikel Arteta on the touchline for another four years, with success and more success the ambition.

This article first appeared on Daily Arsenal and was syndicated with permission.